No democracy without dissent: SC on activists
Top court issues notice to Maha govt; 5 to be under house arrest
NEW DELHI/PUNE/MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stopped Pune police from taking custody of five activists who were arrested a day before for alleged Maoist links, and placed them under house arrest in their respective homes until the case is heard again on September 6.
A three-judge SC bench headed by chief justice of India Dipak Misra also asked the Maharashtra government to file a response by September 5 to a petition by historian Romila Thapar and others that alleged the arrests were aimed at muzzling dissent.
“Dissent is the safety valve of democracy, the pressure cooker will burst if you don’t allow the safety valves,” justice DY Chandrachud, a part of the bench with justice AM Khanwilkar, said.
The SC bench questioned the rationale behind the arrest nine months after violence on January 1 left one person dead and four others injured in Bhima Koregaon, where hundreds of thousands of Dalits were celebrating the bicentennial of a war between the British and the Peshwas.
“There are wider issues raised by them (petitioners). Concern raised is that you are quelling dissent. Democracy is not safe if you quell dissent and that is what they are worried about,” the court said.
In near-simultaneous Pune police raids across five states on Tuesday, lawyer and trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj, poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves were arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, creating fear and enmity between groups, and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The arrests were part of an investigation into the Bhima Koregaon violence.
Navlakha’s transit remand from his house in Delhi to Pune was stayed by the Delhi high court on Tuesday evening and he was put on house arrest, and following a late-night hearing, Bharadwaj’s transit warrant was also recalled by the local magistrate.
SESSIONS JUDGE ASKS POLICE TO SEND BACK 3 ARRESTED ACTIVISTS TO THEIR HOMES AFTER SC ORDERS HOUSE ARREST
PUNE: A Pune sessions court ordered the city police on Wednesday evening to make arrangement to send back activists arrested in connection with the January 1 Bhima Koregaon violence near Pune to their respective homes.
Sessions judge KD Vadane’s order came at 7.15pm after the Supreme Court ruled that the five activists arrested for alleged Maoist links were to be kept under house arrest in their respective homes till September 6.
The judge also asked the police to file an affidavit by September 6, citing reasons for the arrest. The arrested people were taken to the Faraskhana police station for the night with the police stating they would be taken to their respective cities on Thursday.
Three of the five activists arrested by Pune police on Tuesday — lawyers Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and poet P Varavara Rao — were produced before the Pune court around 3pm. The prosecution argued the activists were part of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) group, which was trying to “wage a war” against country to “overthrow” the government.
The alleged plot came to light after police analysed the electronic devices, documents and other “highly incriminating evidences” seized from the five arrested persons, showing their links with the CPI (Maoist), said Pune deputy commissioner of police Shirish Sardeshpande
“They have shown intolerance to the present political system, and decided to target organisations and their officials and even the highest political functionaries,” Sardesphande said.
Public prosecutor Ujjawala Pawar said an event held at Pune’s Shaniwarwada on December 31, 2017 called Elgar Parishad was organised by members of the CPI(Maoist), who were allegedly in the process of procuring “arms from Nepal and Manipur”. According to the Pune (urban) police, this event stoked the violence that broke out in Bhima Koregaon the next day, leaving one person dead and four others injured.
The activists, according to the prosecution, had allegedly formed what was described as an “anti-fascist front” during a December 2015 meeting of the eastern bureau of the central committee of the CPI (Maoist). The prosecution said the police recovered a hard disk, a laptop, a pen drive, and documents from the arrested activists, which had been sent for forensic examination.
The prosecution produced a number of letters in court.
Pawar submitted to the court a purportedly seized letter with an alleged reference to poet P Varavara Rao. “As per our conversation in April this year, I am in touch with our suppliers in Nepal. Our comrade from Manipur will also assist us. Only V V Rao has the authority to communicate with them for purchase of arms,” the letter allegedly stated. The prosecution also showed a purported catalogue of weapons.
In yet another letter, submitted by Pawar, activist Arun Ferreira was allegedly given the responsibility of recruiting rebellious students from prominent organisations such as the Tata Institute of Social Studies to propagate Maoist ideology. “Ferreira was given responsibility to recruit students and send them for training,” said Pawar.
The prosecution said documents seized from the arrested people also allegedly indicated their links with separatist elements in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-east.
Advocate Rohan Nahar, appearing for the arrested activists, said the police action was inappropriate and the sections related to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act were incorrect. He argued that there was no intent to incite violence in anything the activists said and questioned what the police meant by “waging war” against the state.
“Now that the prosecution has claimed they have seized everything, what is the need for custodial interrogation,” said Shahid Akhtar, a defence lawyer.